Logitech’s Legendary Performer: Why the G502 Remains a Classic Among Keyboard and Mouse Enthusiasts

Quick Links

• High-End Gaming Specs, Plenty of Extra Buttons
• It’s Impressively Comfortable
• The Software Is Decent
• The G502 Is Just Perfect for Work
• Some Things I Dislike About the G502

Key Takeaways

• The Logitech G502 is praised for its high-end gaming specs, additional customizable buttons, and comfort.
• The G502 Lightspeed is a latency-free wireless mouse with an accurate optical sensor.
• A major downside of older G502 mice is their poor-quality microswitches, which can be upgraded with soldering skills.

There’s a whole world of excellent gaming mice out there, but I just don’t see myself using any mouse other than the Logitech G502 and its variants. There’s a reason so many gamers obsess over the G502, and this is why I love mine.

High-End Gaming Specs, Plenty of Extra Buttons

The original Logitech G502 was launched in 2014, and I immediately knew that I had to have it. Its aggressive gaming aesthetic screamed, “Look at me,” which admittedly appealed to my teenage self. It was a high-end gaming mouse that featured an accurate high DPI optical sensor that eliminated mouse smoothing effects.

I especially loved the five fully configurable buttons on the left side, which are three more than you get with a typical non-MMO gaming mouse . I play a wide variety of genres, such as FPS games, MOBAs, RPGs, and rogue-likes, and I make full use of the extra mouse buttons in most of these games, such as miscellaneous spells, push-to-talk, melee, and auto-walk.

Mark LoProto / How-To Geek

I didn’t have the money to buy it in 2014, but I did get the Proteus Spectrum version in 2018, which added slick 16.8 million RGB effects to the DPI light and logo. I fell in love with it instantly. The mouse felt much more robust than my friend’s Razer Deathadder, and all buttons felt “tight” and clicky. While I never used the weights that come with the mouse, the option is there for those who prefer a heavier mouse.

The Proteus Spectrum lasted me four years, at which point it was quite worn out, and I was feeling the need to upgrade to a wireless mouse, which I did. Since I didn’t know the G502 X Plus would be released later that year and moving to a new model wasn’t even a consideration, I bought the Logitech G502 Lightspeed. It was a noteworthy upgrade with its improved Logitech Hero 25K sensor and Logitech’s proprietary “Lightspeed” wireless mouse protocol .

The G502 Lightspeed is exactly what I expected—perfect tracking with zero input lag. In fact, it’s even better than the wired version I had in some ways. To make the mouse wireless, Logitech had to redesign almost every single part, reducing its weight and making it feel even sturdier.

For instance, when I tore down my G502 Lightspeed, I noticed that the left and right mouse button now have tiny springs to ensure the buttons go up faster and feel tighter thanks to the added tension. It’s this crazy attention to detail that makes me obsess over the G502.

Ismar Hrnjicevic / How-To Geek

It’s Impressively Comfortable

The G502 replaced my aging Gigabyte M6880 , and the mouse shape felt “just right.” I have relatively large hands, so I prefer larger mice that allow for a comfortable fingertip grip ; the G502’s silhouette is perfect for my grip or any other grip style, really.

The textured, rubberized side grips are not too hard or too soft, and they always feel grippy regardless of how sweaty my hands get. I’ve tried grip tape on my G502, but I found that the original shell feels so much better. Some G502 owners complain that the left and right mouse buttons feel sticky, but I love the velvety feel that the matte plastic has.

While I can’t speak to the comfort of other gaming mice, I know that the G502 is impressively comfortable. Perhaps the best proof of the G502’s comfort is that I don’t experience any wrist or finger pain in my right hand, even after using the mouse for 8–10 hours daily. While my left hand and wrist often ache from typing How-To Geek articles and playing FPS games for hours on end, my right hand remains completely cramp-free.

The Software Is Decent

Logitech’s G Hub is one of the best pieces of hardware management software in the industry, at least in my opinion. While I have experienced plenty of odd issues with Corsair iCUE , the G Hub remains largely bug-free. The program lets you configure basically whatever you want on the G502. You can choose from a variety of lighting options (or disable them altogether), customize what each button does, record macros , and create game-specific profiles.

Admittedly, I don’t use the G Hub regularly; I just mess with it if I have a new macro idea in a game. I typically use the DPI Shift button for macros, and I repurposed the DPI buttons as universal buttons so that I can bind them to any action in games. I still have a DPI cycle button, but I moved it to the button behind the scroll wheel instead.

One other thing I like about the G Hub is that it continues to work correctly even with SignalRGB running in the background, which I use to sync up the RGB between the G502 and my keyboard, which is from a different manufacturer (Corsair). In theory, these two programs should interfere with each other, but they thankfully work just fine in practice.

The G502 Is Just Perfect for Work

Logitech is well-known among professionals for its MX Master lineup, but honestly, the G502 isn’t far behind. The G502 lacks the sweet horizontal scroll wheel that makes the MX Master so great, but I can use the mouse wheel side clicks in a pinch for horizontal scrolling. One potential productivity advantage of the G502 over the MX Master 3S is that it has more programmable buttons; I don’t use them personally, but they’re perfect if you need macros.

You still get that amazing infinite scroll wheel that many Logitech mice have. In case you aren’t familiar with the feature, there’s a mechanical button behind the scroll wheel that unlocks it. Instead of the usual ratcheting you get as you scroll, you can allow it to spin freely to move through spreadsheets in seconds. Once you experience an infinite scroll wheel, you can never go back to a mouse that doesn’t have it.

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Some Things I Dislike About the G502

The G502 is my favorite mouse, and I’ve been using it for years, so I’m well-equipped to critique it. Don’t get me wrong, the G502 is absolutely fantastic, but I want you to be aware of its shortfalls. The relatively high price tag is the first downside, especially for the wireless “Lightspeed” versions. Fortunately, you can find older editions on sale—the G502 Lightspeed that I have is currently $69.95 —but if you want the latest G502 X Plus, you’ll have to shell out $199.99 (and that’s on sale).

The other complaint I have is that the rubberized sides wear out after just a couple of years. Granted, this happens to every mouse with rubberized grips, and you can find a cheap replacement shell for cheap on Aliexpress , which is precisely what I did.

Ismar Hrnjicevic / How-To Geek

By far, my biggest complaint is that the G502 uses horrible Chinese Omron switches for their buttons. Just like with keyboard switches, these tiny mechanical switches register your clicks and provide tactile feedback. The cheap Omrons in the left and right mouse button wear out very fast and start double-clicking.

The G502 X has supposedly fixed this durability issue with optical switches, but they also reportedly feel mushy. Fortunately, I know how to solder , so I upgraded them with the more durable Japanese Omrons and, just recently, switched to the impressively clicky Huano Blue Shell Pink Dot switches.

Ismar Hrnjicevic / How-To Geek

If you don’t mind tinkering with your stuff, replacing the switches is a fun project that I guarantee is worthwhile, as it’s a significant upgrade. Unfortunately, most of these double-clicking, out-of-warranty G502s end up as e-waste, which is a shame, as they’re an otherwise amazing mouse. To be fair, these cheap Omron switches that promise 20 million clicks are an industry-wide problem, as only some manufacturers use high-quality switches.

Assuming computer mice don’t get replaced by computer brain interfaces in the future, I’ll be using the Logitech G502 until the end of time. It’s the Swiss Army knife of computer mice; if you haven’t tried it and are in need of a new mouse, I can wholeheartedly recommend the G502 as my top pick.

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